


A Different Perspective

by DrinkTeaEveryDay



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Body Swap, Caleb - Freeform, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Jester - Freeform, Mighty Nein, Sexual Tension, Widojest - Freeform, body swapping, critical role - Freeform, mature for now, no beta we die like men, sad caleb, slowish burn, that's it that's the fic, will probably turn smutty because I am weak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:14:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25545733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrinkTeaEveryDay/pseuds/DrinkTeaEveryDay
Summary: Within the Mighty Nein, there are many things left unsaid- many thoughts that, if left up to the owner of said thoughts, would forever remain so. A mysterious artifact that seems to swap the spirits within bodies may just be the change in dynamic they need.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast, widojest
Comments: 9
Kudos: 73





	1. Ascension of the Spirit

So- just to clarify-" Veth said, speaking between bites of now-rancid pocket bacon that the rest of the Nein had quietly agreed she probably should not be eating now that she was without the iron stomach of a goblin. 

"Rather than have me open this chest, which I remind you, will take me all of 3 seconds- I am very good at picking locks- you are going to stand here for 11 minutes and cast a spell to make sure that is isn't a trap?"

Caleb pinched his nose and sighed heavily.

"Ja, Veth. We've seen what happens when you get over-zealous. Wouldn't you agree, Caduceus?"

The firbolg shrugged as if saying that he would rather not get involved, but Veth's expression straightened with the truth of Caleb's words. 

"For what it's worth, Veth, you are right- you're very good at lockpicking. And like, it wouldn't be your fault if the chest exploded. Sometimes things just do that, I think." Jester said conspiratorially to Veth, gesturing to mime an explosion. Caleb shook his head and turned his face away, hiding the smile blossoming on his face. 

It fell quickly as he sat and began the incantation to detect magic, trying his best not to get distracted- off in the corner of the small treasure room Yasha and Beau had formed a makeshift table, an aged plate armour chest with an even older tapestry thrown over it, on which they had joined hands and were competing in a strength contest of sorts. Every twenty seconds or so over the duration of his ritual casting there resounded a dull crunch and crash as Yasha once again sent Beau's hand barreling into it. It sounded painful, but neither woman seemed entirely troubled by this pattern, and they kept it up throughout. 

Fjord was poking around in another corner, and Caleb tried his best not to worry about him, but it was difficult. The man had not often proved himself to be trustworthy while off alone and unsupervised. As he cast his spell, he watched from the corner of his eye as Jester meandered over to the half-orc. Pangs of relief and something more painful shot through him. When they began to speak to each other, he spoke his incantation more loudly, his gestures becoming more dramatic. Despite himself his mind ran with what suppositions Veth or Caduceus may think of this change. Whether they would tie the two concurrent events together, whether they would know the meaning, whether Yasha had ever spoken to either of them about the conversation the two of them had shared about- her. 

His mind ran entirely too quickly, but the sound of what he could swear was Caduceus snoring reached his ear, and Caleb felt his breathing calming with the rhythm of it, and his racing mind slowed. 

Magic swelled in him as he finished the spell, and when it released from him, he was left with impressions of the magic in the room around him- the typical ones he expected, of course- the magic items wielded by his friends had used to be distractions to his spell, clogging up his perception, but he had learned to ignore them. No, his focus was on the ornate and gilded chest before him- sat on a pedestal, no less. 

He would be cautious of the vibrant dangerous smell of evocation- a fireball trap, a swell of dangerous arcane power- but that was not the impression he was getting. Nor was he detecting the cool featurelessness magic of abjuration. No, this was a mixture of two types of magic- enchantment was there- that could be cause for concern, he knew. But what drew his interest was the familiar comfort of malleable transmutation magic. Whether it was actually the more prominent magic of the two or whether it was simply the one he felt more deeply attuned to, it took more time to discern- he concentrated, and decided it was the former. It excited him. 

"Caeh-leb!" A voice called, and he was pulled from the focus of the spell. "You look like... really serious right now." 

Jester smiled at him- she was always smiling- and Caleb unconsciously reached up to stroke his chin, looking for a short beard that was nothing but stubble at the moment. He felt himself flush, and briefly wished he had dirt to smear on his face. 

"Jester! Can't you see the man is working?" Veth said, facetious anger bringing back the grating voice of Nott momentarily. "Caleb, are you finished?" She was all sweetness then. 

"Ja, ja. I do believe that I am." He spoke in his clipped fashion. 

A moment passed. 

"And?" Veth said, impatient. 

"Ah. I am very interested in the contents of this chest." 

"Is it dangerous, though?" Jester said, leaning over to peer closer at it. "Any explosions?" 

Caleb looked between the two women. 

"No, no, I don't think so. It should be safe- of course I would recommend that the others keep their distance anyway. No need for... unnecessary risk." Caleb said. Fjord and the women arm-wrestling were already at a safe distance, he decided, and so he nudged Caduceus awake, and then looked pointedly at Jester. "You two should probably back up."

"What about you?" Jester said. "You don't need to be close, you know. Veth can open a box by herself." 

"I- have ways to protect myself." Caleb said, strained, not entirely willing to admit he simply was burning with too much curiousity to excuse himself from a front seat to the opening of the chest. 

She shrugged, pulling Caduceus along with her towards the back of the room. "Just don't get yourself killed or something! Who knows if we can cross this room in a minute- and like, we only have so many diamonds left- Caduceus and I might not even bother revivify you if something goes wrong, you know."

"I'm sure," said Caleb, gesturing towards Veth to open the chest. She looked brimming with excitement, her thieves' tools held firmly in her hands, and she nodded.

The whole ordeal was over quickly, and she looked smugly at Caleb as the lid of the chest flipped open. 

"Well done," he said, and Veth beamed with pride at the compliment. 

"You know- on second thought, I probably could have just opened this with my mage's hand..." She said off-handedly. Caleb might have released yet another heavy sigh if he had heard, but he had become enraptured by the contents of the chest he could now see clearly, waiting for him. 

It was not what he had expected. Admittedly, he had not had a clear picture in his mind as to what he was expecting inside, but perhaps something more... grand. Something bigger. But no- sat at the very bottom of the chest were two perfect loops, intertwined. He looked closer, and they appeared featureless and unremarkable, with no clear markings to indicate how they were connected so. No seams on the fine yet simple pieces. His magic detection was still active, and he knew- these were magical. 

"What is it?" Veth asked, voice high and vibrating with excitement. While the pedestal underneath the chest put her at a perfect height to pick the lock standing, she could not quite get a clear view of the interior- never mind reach inside to retrieve the bounty. 

"Loops- rings, maybe?" His voice sounded distracted, something he recognized despite finding himself quite unable to pinpoint why. 

A transparent blue hand appeared above Veth, but before it could reach inside to grab the odd configuration of metal, Caleb lost the internal fight against himself and succumbed to the call of mystery and transmutation magic, reaching inside and grabbing the rings. 

+

Jester hadn't been worried- not really. She wouldn't have listened, wouldn't have obediently gone to the back of the room with Caduceus if she truly believed there was any danger. Caleb had declared it safe, and why should she doubt his word? Truthfully, she had been a little annoyed- it isn't as if Caleb was the most physically hardy of the Nein- she wasn't either, but she was certainly close to the top of the list. She could withstand anything he could. 

No, she thought. That wasn't right. Anything physical, yes. She thought it a disservice to Caleb to forget what he _had_ withstood. What she knew her sheltered upbringing never allowed her to fully understand. 

_Boom._ A burst of wind-like force hit her square in the chest, nearly pushing her back- near her Yasha and Beauregard stood at attention, and Caduceus at her side was knocked prone. 

She watched as Veth was thrown backwards towards them like she were made of fabric and stuffing, while Caleb in an instant stood straight at attention- and then he was on the ground in front of the chest, unmoving. 

"Cad- Veth!" She bellowed, calling upon the traveler, unwilling to waste a second- a green doorway surrounded by vines appeared, an instantaneous passage. She inhaled on one side of the room and exhaled at Caleb's side, looking him over for the cause of his distress, desperate to find what the contents of the chest had done to him.

He had reached into it, right? - his hand, then. Oh. That... had not been there before.

Looped on two fingers of Caleb's right hand were metal rings, connected- one of them shone a faint and ominous red, no doubt the cause of his affliction.

The solution was obvious- she grabbed his hand and desperately plucked the ring from his finger. It didn't move. She had no time to consider what that meant before she lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been rewatching a favourite K-drama of mine featuring a body swap and was struck with this idea. I've been watching CR for 4 years and have never written a fic for it- how!? Anyway I'm Widojest trash, but this fic will also probably feature snippets of other relationships. I'll be tagging as things happen because I don't want to promise things that aren't currently existing unless I'm certain they will eventually exist. I'm a little rough on the fanfic front, it's been a while.


	2. Say You Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jester and Caleb wake up, and a plan is proposed.

When she came back to consciousness, there was darkness. Her eyes opened, and the darkness persisted- darker than she really anticipated, even darker than her superior vision could pierce- but there was sound, and her ears fixed themselves to it. 

"Stop eating that, Veth. Beau- I need you to clean your pockets. Please." Fjord, his polished accent and low voice carrying on the air. Jester smiled. 

"Sorry, Cap. I don't ask you to throw out your rations, I shouldn't have to get rid of mine." Beau said snarkily, but something in her voice was unsteady. Unsteadier than Jester was accustomed to hearing of her friend, and it made her sad. 

She was lying down- she wasn't sure when that happened... What had happened? Her mind traced back, and it came to her. 

"Caleb?" she whispered- she cleared her throat, trying to cast away the rough sound escaping her lips despite no apparent pain or discomfort to explain it. 

"Ah, you're awake."

Oh? 

"Traveller!" She said, a whisper of excitement like so many she had let loose before she could stop herself whenever she heard the mischievous voice of her best friend. 

Oh. But that- that was... not right. 

"Traveller?" She said again, louder this time, concern in her voice.

"Yes, Jester?"

A verdant light appeared, illuminating the clever features of her deity. Jester sat up to be closer to the figure, and for the first time it struck her just how weak she felt. How wrong. Using the small amount of light, she raised her dominant hand to her face- and nearly gasped. Wrapped in bandages and coated in dirt, the peach and pink of a human hand was all she saw.

The sound of a fiery argument as to whether months-old bacon could be considered "rations" broke her from the silent flurry of emotions going through her mind. Gathering her surroundings, she looked around to see that the faint red of a fire was now visible, a dark figure having moved from in front of it, a silhouette she thought might have been Caduceus- she seemed to be inside of a tent. A musty smelling one that had likely been sitting unused in somebody's pack until now. So she had been moved from the dungeon, then? Dragged outside? 

Suddenly, the green-lit face of her Traveller disappeared. 

"Lie down and shut your eyes." A voice whispered in her ear, and she obeyed, as she believed she always would when the Traveller requested something of her. 

The sounds of approaching footsteps on grass and crunching dirt outside of the tent tempted her to open an eye, but she resisted- she knew her current state of poor vision would not offer her anything of interest to see. She heard the deep bass hum of Caduceus speaking, seemingly to himself. 

"There you go, Missus Harper- you like a nice long steep, I know. I think you'll be nice and ready when these two wake up." Talking to his tea, then. He lingered, and it began to annoy Jester that she could not know see what exactly he was doing. She was wondering why the Traveller had made her pretend- fidgeting slightly, musing at the skinniness of her arms, the lightness of her head, the softness of it on the thin pillow underneath her head. It's like she had no- oh. Her horns. They were gone. With a quick inspection, she realized the same was true for her tail. And the hand- of course, it's match had been the last thing that she had seen before her consciousness faded, how could she not immediately recognize it as Caleb's? She would have frowned, if such a thing would not break her so-far flawless performance of a sleeping Caleb. 

Finally the firbolg left, a lumbering sound, and Jester shot up immediately. She willed the flap of the tent to close, reaching for the part of her power she knew was infernal, hers, and not the Traveller's. Nothing. Her thaumaturgical efforts failed. She let loose a small whine, a novel sound in Caleb's voice. An interesting one. 

"Traveller." She said, thinking suddenly that she may in fact understand his motive in having her hide her consciousness. Outside, the sounds of familiar voices trickled towards her.

"They're still sleeping, but if they wake up they'll have some nice tea waiting for them."

"And you're sure they're sleeping, right? They're going to be fine?" Beauregard again, that uncharacteristic note of concern in her voice that Jester wanted to hug away. 

"I checked it myself, Beau- they're fine. The-" 

But the sound of Fjord's voice was replaced by the Traveller, at her side once again.

"Oh, _Jester-_ that _is_ interesting."

"I- I'm in Caleb's body, aren't I." She said, grinning.

"Clever as always, my Jester." 

She beamed.

"Traveller, was this you? You can be honest you know, I'll be super impressed if it is though."

He laughed, sounding as baffled as she felt. 

"No, Jester, I assure you- I had no part in this, although I must admit I think I will find it _extremely entertaining_."

The smiled stayed on Jester's face, but a thought occurred to her that she felt should have occurred to her already.

"Wait! Traveller! If I'm here, then Caleb is...?" A gentle hand guided her to look to her left, towards the other side of the tent. It was pitch black, and Jester made an exasperated noise. "Traveller, I can't see. Caleb has bad eyes!" 

Without a reply, a light appeared, and Jester could see it clearly- her own body, lying unmoving. She gasped. 

"Man, let me tell you- I have seen my face before, but it looks completely different like this. This is crazy!" In a moment it occurred to her how strange the shape of her words in Caleb's deep voice sounded, how warm his voice sounded, like a soothing balm of comfort that she could wield at will. She wondered if Caleb's Zemnian words coming from her own mouth would bring him the same joy and entertainment. If he ever woke, that is- as is, his- well, her own- eyes were closed still, and a knot of mild worry worked it's way into her gut. 

She touched her own body- she had practiced her healing words this morning, and so now she reached within, within the place she drew the magic of her faith from- willing the Traveller to let her access her abilities to aid her unconscious body. 

A few moments passed. She did not release her breath.

And then- success. She felt the restorative magic wash over her target, a familiar sensation, and offered a quick thanks that she seemed to have her abilities still. But they did nothing for Caleb now, it seemed- she supposed it was foolish of her to expect it to work, when it seemed impossible to her that Caduceus had not tried the very same thing. 

Well, she did not plan to leave the tent until Caleb had awoken and she could speak to him properly. They had to agree on how to approach this, and she felt a sneaking suspicion that she would have a different perspective on all of this than he would.

Resting her head on an unfamiliar hand, she gazed at her own body. Outside, the rest of the Nein shared quiet conversation and minor squabbles, and Jester felt safe and comfortable, and utterly excited at the prospects of this strange thing that had happened to her.

Slowly, she raised her right hand up- Caleb's hand, veined and wiry, ash under his fingernails- and noticed something she had not seen before. A ring- one ring. Not two. It must have changed colour, she realized- it now glowed a faint blue.

+

Awaking from a dreamless sleep had been a rare occurrence for Caleb Widogast for a long time- dreams plagued him, haunted him, memories posing as nightmares running through his mind every night without any escape or respite. When he had first met the Nein, the dreams inflicted their misery on his sleep still- but in even just the past few months they had lessened somewhat. Not gone away entirely, mind- but been tolerable.

When he awoke this time, it was as if he were opening his eyes for the very first time, a newborn free of worry or pain. No heavy breaths and shaky hands betrayed him, no lasting images of fire painted behind his lids and no agonized screams echoed in his ears.

His eyes opened- and he found he was looking at himself. 

"Sheiße!" He let loose, a rush of breath that immediately was wrong. He sat up straight, panic setting his heart hammering. 

"Don't worry Caleb! Don't worry! It's me!" The easy smile that accompanied the lilted Nicodranas accent that carried across the tent in his own smoky voice nearly sent him keeling over. 

"Jester." He said, and he supposed he was not surprised at the feminine voice that came from his own chest. 

"Yes, that's right, you got it! Can you see me Caleb?" 

"Ja, ja, I can see you- why wouldn't I-?"

"Oh, that's good. That cool. I guess you have my eyes, after all. I never realized how badly you humans see in the dark. No wonder Beau is always wearing those silly looking glasses, this really is intolerable-"

"Jester!" A hushed sound, panicked and stilted. It sounded alien in Jester's voice, and Caleb couldn't help but feel the somewhat strange thought that he was somehow spoiling it by using it in such a way. Her cheerful disposition on his face and in his voice was strange, foreign, and wrong- but without a doubt, an improvement. He did not feel he offered the same to her voice, to her face. How could he. A clutching in his chest was glad that he could not see her features being twisted by his own negativity. 

Jester had stopped talking, but that goofy smile was still planted on the sharp, hollow features of Caleb's face. 

"I take it this was the work of that god of yours," he said. "Well- reversing it would be- uh- good."

"Oh, no!" She said, shaking the head she occupied, Caleb's red hair whipping back and forth with the movement. "I asked. This wasn't him. Actually-" she seemed transfixed by something, so he followed her gaze towards the left hand of Jester Lavorre's body- where a ring that had not been there before was now adorning a finger, and glowing a faint red. Sounding as if she indeed had just realized it, she continued- "I think it was those. These." She said, raising a right hand for Caleb to inspect, sporting it's own ring. 

"The rings- ja..." Ordering the thoughts in his head, methodically reconstructing every event that had got him here, he paused. "Ja. I remember. The rings in the chest. I grabbed them. I-" He couldn't help himself, he nearly said. They called to him. He had to touch them. He didn't want to admit to it, but he almost did- perhaps the influence of Jester's unprecedented closeness and her own apparent chronic sincerity caused him to be more forthcoming than he may be inclined to be ordinarily.

"And then I touched them. They had attached themselves to your fingers!" She said, and Caleb nearly raised an eyebrow- it was harder than he expected it to be, as if Jester lacked control over the muscle to raise just one. and it remained untrained. Both raised instead. 

"And I am guessing that you did not put this one on yourself, then." He said, gesturing with his blue left hand where the ring was looped on.

She nodded. 

In a rush Caleb made a move to tear the ring off, tugging at it with more force than he initially intended to- it hurt. He could only sigh when it failed to come off despite the newfound strength he felt in his muscles. 

"Ja. I didn't really expect that to work. I'm guessing you already tried that, anyway."

"Nope!" She said.

"Sorry?"

"I didn't try to take it off- why would I? This is crazy! We can prank so many people!" 

Caleb made a strangled noise, a sound that he wasn't expecting to _feel_ quite so much when it came out sounding like Jester. 

"So, I have it all figured out, right- this is probably a curse of something, yeah? So like- we pretend to be each other- see if anybody notices, although I don't see how they would because this isn't like an illusion of anything- it's totally real, right?" Caleb found himself nodding at the breakneck pace she was speaking, and he thought about how long it had been since his tongue had spoken quite so many words in Common, quite so quickly. "We do this for like three days or a week or something and then bam, I ask the Traveller to remove it and he does, right? Bam! Good as new. It will be soooo funny Caleb, we should totally do it."

Every voice that had ever entered Caleb's head to give their own grim advice was making a reappearance now to say that this was a truly awful, pointless idea. The rational part of himself agreed. 

"Uh... ja. Ja. Sure." He said instead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd that's chapter 2? I suppose? I'm thinking of all the tropes and plots this concept could cover and I'm so excited to write this fic, y'all. I've read quite a few CR fics over the years and I've noticed it's a preference of mine when the mannerisms and speech affects of characters are translated into text, so that's a big thing I'll be making an intentional effort to include. Wish me luck.
> 
> It is occurring to me that this might take longer than I initially planned to get to smut, but I think I might not mind? I will edit tags accordingly. When it does happen, I'll mark it for easy finding. 
> 
> If you read this, a quick kudos to let me know would be very much appreciated. Don't even gotta comment if ya don't wanna. Thank you!


End file.
